Natural and Artificial Conservation of 
Water Power For Electrical 
Purposes 


By EDWARD R. TAYLOR 


TC 411 
. T3 

Copy 1 



THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE 
PHILADELPHIA 
1908 











(Reprinted from Journal Franklin Institute , December , igoS) 


Natural and Artificial Conservation of Water Power For 


Electrical Purposes. 


By Edward R. Taylor. 


The call of the Governors’ Conference by President Roosevelt 
last May was the inauguration of a development of resources more 
stupendous than ever before contemplated by any people upon the 
face of the earth, and it is destined to be of value to our people 
beyond any present power of computation. Startling facts were 
arrayed showing the rapid and near-by exhaustion of resources 
which when once used can never be replaced, and emphasis was 
placed upon the necessity of utilizing other resources now going 
to waste which might delay the exhaustion of the unreplacable. 

Of all our resources capable of meeting these exigencies, no' 
other begins to compare with the systematic and perfect develop¬ 
ment of our water power, and no other so abundantly helps navi- 



410 Taylor: IT F - 

gation and commerce without which the marketing of our products, 
manufactured and otherwise, cannot adequately be performed. 
Our railroads have admitted their inability to do the work re¬ 
quired of them, and even the expenditure of hundreds of millions 
•of dollars would not make them capable of doing what in the 
nearby future would be required of them, if unaided by water 
navigation. 

I deem myself happy therefore to have been invited by the 
Franklin Institute to address you to-night on the “Natural and 
Artificial Conservation of Water Power for Electrical Purposes.’’ 
These last two words are important, for electricity has made pos¬ 
sible the development of water power in one place and its utiliza¬ 
tion in another, a fact so familiar that I do not need to dwell upon 
it at this time. 

In the conservation of water for power purposes, forests are of 
great value. They prevent the wearing away of soil so essential 
to all vegetable growth and by the decay of the fallen leaves add to 
fertility, and make possible the absorption and retention for a long 
time the water that would otherwise run quickly away. They 
also retard the melting of snow in the Spring and thus conserve 
water for later use. But while the ground is frozen it cannot 
absorb any more water and unless there are lakes, ponds or res¬ 
ervoirs to receive this water it passes rapidly to the sea, carrying 
many times devastation in its way, so much so that the annual 
damage by floods in the United States alone is computed at not 
less than $100,000,000. 

Forestry alone is incapable of meeting the exigency and must 
be supported by water storage to be really effective. This water 
storage should begin in the farmers’ brook. 

Mr. W. A. Ritter wrote a fine description of Mr. Chas. Call’s 
power plant, published in the Ohio Farmer of July 25th, 1908. 

This picture of Mr. Chas. Call’s dam, which impounds the 
water of a brook which you can easily step across, is an illustration 
of such a development. Two months from the time Mr. George 
H. Lodge, of Cuyahoga Falls, his son-in-law, started with him 
to build that dam, they were lighting Mr. Call’s house and other 
buildings by electricity produced by that babbling brook. It is 
simply an earth dam with a concrete spillway with some stones the 
farm could well spare for the water to fall upon. 

A little brook, yet that great passage way thirty-two feet long 



Dec. 1908.] Water Power for Electrical Purposes. 411 

and say two feet high was filled within five inches of its top last 
Spring, and when I visited his home a few weeks ago, I found 
Mr. Call had added eighteen inches to the height of his spillway 
and was scraping the earth in to increase the height of the rest of 
the. dam. He said it was surprising how fast they could fill the 
dam up in that way. In such work the earth should always be 
higher than the concrete and the concrete high enough so that 
the water can never get over its sides, no matter how heavy the 
flow of water coming down. With these precautions earth dams 


Dam of Mr. Charles Call. From “Ohio Farmer.” 

when properly constructed, especially if they have a diaphragm 
of concrete deep down and running their whole length and planted 
with willows are in many places the cheapest and best dams. 
This dam is over 300 feet long and cost about $400 to construct. 
The total equipment about $1200. A $60 chandalier shows its 
elaborateness. When the dam is filled with water it covers about 
four acres and affords pleasure for boating, swimming and fish¬ 
ing. Under the dam at this point is a sewer pipe eighteen inches 
in diameter connecting with a rectangular box open at the top and 
at one side and passing to the lower side of the dam. By lifting 



412 


Taylor: 


[J. F. I., 


the gates on the front part of this box the pond was emptied of its 
water to do the work shown and a larg*e quantity of fish Revealed. 
As a matter of fact such a pond properly stocked with fish is ca¬ 
pable of yielding more value per acre than the ordinary farm will 
produce by cultivation. 

The power house is shown at the left, in which is a six-horse¬ 
power water wheel and five kilowatt dynamo. This furnishes 
light and runs some small machines. The wheel is started and 
stopped by a wire running to the house and attached by very in- 



House of Mr. Charles Call. From "Ohio Farmer. ’ 

genious contrivance to the gate of the water wheel. Mr. Lodge 
deserves great credit for the ingenuity shown in the installation of 
this plant. The discharge pipe for overflow and for emptying 
the pond is shown in this picture, and in front of it in the willows 
is shown the little brook hardly more than two feet across at that 
point. Mr. Call says there are seven or eight places on that little 
stream where other farmers can,do as well or better. 

It was nice to note the generous credit Mr. Call gave the young 
men, Messrs. Lodge and Ritter, for the accomplishment of this 
work, and right here I may say, I believe there is a large field for 






Dec. 1908.] Water Power for Electrical Purposes. 413 

competent young men to assist farmers in such developments. 
There are literally thousands of such opportunities all through 
the land, and farmers should embrace them without delay. It 
will mean the aggregate storing of immense quantities of flood 
waters in the feeders of large .Streams and enhance the value of 
such farms from 25% to 50^, to say nothing of the luxury of 
electric lights and electricity applied to plowing, seeding, reaping, 
mowing, haying, cultivating' and other outside operations, per¬ 



formed with the aid of the electric automobile applied to farm 
-uses. 

A starter is shown in the haying scene exhibited, and in the 
same house, washing, ironing, cooking and a multitude of little 
things where heat is required, as also in many cases heating the 
house in winter time. 

Mr. John T. McDonald, of Delhi, N. Y., has another similar 
and larger development, being about twenty-five horse power, and 
in addition to lighting his house and barns he has a shop with 
saws, planers and special machinery, and finds it very handy on 
rainy days to spend them in comfort and pleasure with his men in 





414 Taylor: H F - I -»- 

doing useful work by machinery. This is finely described by 
Prof. H. L. Bailey, in the Outlook for August 25th, 1906.* 

He has a model farm in the upper Delaware Valley, says lie cam 
develop as much again power as he has now, cuts ice from his- 



pond for himself and neighbors (as does Mr. Call previously re¬ 
ferred to). There are other such developments in the country to 
which I need not now refer. 


*On returning I visited the farm of Mr. McDonald. There were once 
eighty-nine saw mills on that little brook, and his is now the only wafer 
power development on the stream. It is about 1400 feet above sea level, 
and the whole upper country of the Delaware and Susquehanna present the 
most abundant possibilities of lake storage. See map of Banff country,, 
which illustrates it very well, though it is more mountainous than the 
Delaware country. 


















Dec. 1908.] Water Power for Electrical Purposes. 415 

These are small beginnings, but they are the forecasts of lots of 
others, all of which means the conservation of water and the 
equalization of summer flow. 

Nowhere can a like expenditure of money count so much for the 
comfort and betterment of home life on the farm, and power con¬ 
ditions lower down on the stream. 

In early times even small water powers determined the location 
of places. For years Cleveland, Ohio, was a hamlet near New- 
burg, the start of the latter being determined by a small water 
power that is nOw abandoned. 

In many cases ideal sites for power were inadequately devel¬ 
oped by the first users, who had power enough for their pur¬ 
poses, and did not, or could not, purchase sufficient land to com¬ 
pass the solution of an ideal site. 

At Kent, Ohio, is shown a dam constructed on ideal plans and 
in an ideal situation, with rock bottom and sides, originally con¬ 
structed by the State for canal purposes, its use for power being 
secondary, and no advantage was taken of the opportunity to buy 
cheap land above for storage purposes. Now the land would 
cost a great deal, besides a railroad has possession of one of its 
banks. A beautiful piece of stone channel cutting is shown in 
making place for the railroad. But for this condition and the 
high price of land above, this would be an admirable site for 
larger development and storage of water. The’gorge is shown 
above' the dam with its regular sides. 

This location is famous for the historic leap of Captain Brady, 
who in fleeing from the Indians jumped-the chasm as they were 
almost upon him. It was an almost superhuman thing to do, but 
he was successful and succeeding in hiding himself among logs 
and lily pads of Brady Lake, while the Indians had to pass around 
to a ford higher up the stream. Though walking over his head 
upon the logs they failed to find him. 

Cuyahoga Falls also illustrates another inadequate early devel¬ 
opment of an admirable site. At a suitable time overflow land 
could have been purchased at a moderate price and a large storage 
secured between Kent and Cuyahoga Falls. As it was the fall 
was great and gave them all, and more than all, the power they 
required. 

The next picture shows the three upper dams in succession and 
the arrangement of flumes and buildings is a fair illustration of 


4 i6 Taylor: D- F - 1 -»- 

marred natural beauty that make us rejoice that more artistic and 
beautiful developments are being made to-day. Other parts of 
the gorge below are very beautiful. 

Some years ago a race was started in the gorge to convey water 
to Akron, about four miles below, where there is a fine head and 
large water power development. The Salt River Power Canal 
illustrates the modern construction of such a power canal and 
shows the great value of concrete construction for such work. In 
all these there was no conservation of water in any proper sense, 
and is a fair illustration of the irregularity of river flow without 
storage reservoirs, and the Cuyahoga is like the . majority of 
streams throughout the country, almost dry at times and surging 
bank full at other times, when it goes down in such quantity that 
It can be turned to no useful account, and often carries destruction 
in its way. 

Look at the map of the United States showing the rivers. The 
lake regions of New York and New England, to a certain extent, 
conserve water and make more or less valuable water powers, 
but are by no means adequate and should be both enlarged and 
increased in numbers to do what is required of them. On the 
other hand such streams as the Delaware and the Susquehanna 
are threads of water without lakes, very low in summer and 
flooded every year with water that ought to be stored in the hills 
from whence they came. There is abundant opportunity. 

The feeders of the Ohio are largely the same, throwing an ag¬ 
gregate of water into the Ohio, carrying damage and destruction 
all along their course. This can be saved by reservoirs in the 
Appalachians. 

There is probably not a single year when the flood damage to 
Pittsburgh does not exceed $3,500,000, while in the summer boats 
are loaded with coal and held in the upper waters to be floated at 
flood down the river. How much better to reforest the hills and 
impound the water in the ravines and make the Ohio and many of 
its branches navigable the whole year through, at the same time 
saving from inundation millions of acres of immensely valuable 
lowlands of the Mississippi Valley, while lands very much less 
in value are used in the up-country to store this water, at the same 
time developing power that is valuable. 

The place to hold water back is in the upper parts of the coun¬ 
try where land is cheap. A hundred million dollars damage by 


Journal Franklin Institute, vol. clxvi, December, 1908 


( Taylor) 



Ideal water power site In Norway. From ‘‘Electrochemical Industry.” 

















418 Taylor: ll F. U 

flood every year is a high price to pay for our folly. Better pay 
a portion of that amount per year in making storage for water 
and reforesting suitable places and develop water power which, in 
addition to paying for the cost, will save millions of dollars per 



Proposed water storage in the Appalachians. From "World’s Work.” 


year in coal. Banff illustrates an ideal country for water stor¬ 
age. 

Dr. Putnam, before the Governors’ Conference, made clear that 
30,000,000 horse power of water can comparatively cheaply be de¬ 
veloped in the United States, while the development of 150,000,000 
horse power could be practicably considered. When one reflects 






Dec. 1908.] Water Power for Electrical Purposes. 449 

that the useful application of one horse power of water per year 
is the equivalent to saving twelve tons of coal per year, we may 
well ponder as to the proper utilization of the immense power at 
our disposal. 

As a rule land that is not very valuable may be used for 
storage purposes, and even if it is valuable, in some cases, would 
be more valuable for use in impounding water than the uses to 
which it is now put. Ravines abound and are better so used than 
not. The dam can be in many cases largely made of stones that 



Doe River, Tenn. Ravines for storage and power. 
From “ Forestry and Irrigation.” 


now cumber the ground and the farms be the better for their re¬ 
moval. 

The Oswego water shed is advantageously situated for such 
installations and there are literally thousands of farms where this 
water storage and power can be installed and with it may come the 
annual saving of thousands of tons of coal, at the same time re¬ 
lieving the finger lakes of much of the strain put upon them in 
the rainy season. 

Many examples of such possibilities could be given, such as 







420 Taylor: ^ F- *•’ 

Big Stream, which has its rise in Tyrone, in Schuyler County, at 
an altitude of about noo feet, passing through Yates County into 
Seneca Lake, through a good farming country, and having a fall 
of more than six hundred feet in the course of ten or twelve miles. 
Such a stream as this properly harnessed is capable of doing the 
ploughing, seeding and harvesting of the farms through which 
it passes. 

Flint Creek, in Yates County, also offers possibilities more pre¬ 
tentious, and has in addition considerable lake storage possibilities 
that should certainly be investigated. There are several small 
dams already on this creek, that can without doubt be enlarged 
and turned to more useful account by means of dynamos. 

Kashong Creek passes through a gulley above Bellona, where a 
large storage pond could be made and a fall of sixty to eighty feet 
obtained at Bellona, which could be developed to the great ad¬ 
vantage of the town, where a twenty-foot head is now developed 
and runsi a grist mill. These are simply spoken of as examples. 
There are hundreds of similar cases. 

There are other respects in which this water shed is unique, in 
that there are multitudes of deep glens offering heads of from ioo 
to 300 or 400 feet, and above them gulleys of small value which 
could be dammed and large quantities of water stored. 

One of the most noted of these is Watkins Glen. I speak of 
this with delicacy. Some people would say, ‘‘Would you blemish 
Watkins Glen with a water power?” I say, no, I would beautify 
it with a water power. The storage would be all above the Glen 
where people visit, and enough water could be allowed to pass in 
the summer over the cascades to be more than equal to the low 
water of summer, as it is now. There is very large room for 
ponds, and even lakes, in the upper part of this stream where very 
large quantities of water could be stored, and the power used at 
Watkins to very great advantage. 

There is a similar Glen at Hammondsport. A power develop¬ 
ment in a similar glen at Ithaca was made several years ago and 
has been in successful operation ever since. The secret of making 
all of these glens successful producers of power is to secure abund¬ 
ant bondage at higher levels. This is probably possible in every 
one of them in every case with a rock bottom for the foundation of 
suitable dams. 

Little Lake and Lamoke Lake, in Schuyler County, are at an 


Dec. 1908.] Water Power for Electrical Purposes. 


421 


elevation of 387 feet above Lake Keuka, and only about two miles 
therefrom. Their outlet could be dammed at Bradford and their 
level raised and made into one lake seven or eight miles long - and 
about one mile wide with a large power development at Keuka. 

As the waters from these lakes now makes its way into the 



Pondage site above glen. 



Site for dam above Glen. Taken in dry weather. 


Chemung River, a tributary of the Susquehanna, its diversion to 
the Oswego water shed would have to be made a matter of Inter- 
State agreement. This raises a very important question, as there 
is often great advantage, as in this case, to be derived from divert¬ 
ing water from one water shed to another. Where for similar 
reasons the water can be used to better advantage. Here is a fall 







422! Taylor: tJ- F * *•» 

of nearly 400 feet in the space of two miles with a fair supply of 
water, means a very large power, as 100 pounds per minute means 
the continuous development at this head of more than one horse 
power and savings of twelve tons of coal per year for each horse 
power. 



Making concrete aquaduct. New York City Water Supply. 



New York City is about to expend $165,000,000011 storage and 
conveyance of water from the Catskill Mountains, a distance of 
eighty-five miles. 

This great enterprise includes a great syphon to convey the 
water under the bed of the Hudson River. There will be a fall 



























42.1 


Dec. 1908.] Water Power for Electrical Purposes. 

of 610 feet, at least 300 feet of which could be used for power 
purposes, with the possible development of nearly 35,000 horse 
power and the saving of 420,000 tons of coal per year. I am in¬ 
debted to the Popular Mechanics for this illustration showing a 



map and plan for syphon under the Hudson River and an aque¬ 
duct of concrete. 

Notwithstanding a fall of more than 100 feet at Rochester, 
the water is so low in summer in the Genessee that less than 






[J. F. I., 


424 Taylor: 

2000 horse power is available, when by proper storage 100,000 
horse power would be available the year round at that one point. 

It has been proposed to construct a dam at Portage and im¬ 
pound a large quantity of water above the gorge at that point. 
A map of the proposed lake is made showing the present position 
of railroad tracks and the position they would occupy when re¬ 
moved to make way for the improvement. This great undertak¬ 
ing is advocated by the New York State Water Supply Com¬ 
mission, and I am indebted to them for the map above referred to. 
They are also proposing to make a similar storage on the Sacan- 
daga River, north of Albany, in the State of New York. 

Four great storage reservoirs and one hundred and thirty-five 
feet fall of water utilized makes Niagara Falls the seat of power 
that it is to-day. 

The Genessee River might offer the next best power in the 
State, but it has no important lakes and more than one hundred 
times as much water passes in flood as at its minimum flow. 

Not SO’ with the Oswego River, only about twenty-five times as 
much water goes through it at flood as at minimum flow. 

The storage capacity in what are known as the Finger Lakes of 
our State make the difference. These are natural reservoirs in a 
very small measure assisted by dams to retain much of the flood 
water, with the result that it is probably the more regular water 
power stream that has its rise in the State; yet under present cir¬ 
cumstances it is more than usually pressing that we should ask if 
the present water storage capacity can be materially increased. 

The raising of the dam of Canandaigua Lake would prob¬ 
ably be attended with the least trouble and damage. The varia¬ 
tion in Canandaigua Lake from highest to lowest water, as I 
understood, does not exceed five feet, and the spring run-off is 
always very heavy, and the summer very light. 

The dam at Keuka Lake makes the possible difference of level 
of from six to eight feet from high to low, and there are some¬ 
times as much as two or three feet of water goes to waste over 
this dam. To raise this dam a few feet and secure a larger sup¬ 
ply of flood water, would be attended with some damage, but 
could be provided for by filling low places and other easements at 
Hammondsport, Branchport, Penn Yan, and some small places, 
including cottage sites. But this difficulty is not insurmountable. 
The dam at the foot of Seneca Lake, I understand, is in bad con- 


Dec. 1908.] Water Power for Electrical Purposes. 425 

•dition and needs suitable repair to enable Seneca Lake to become 
the storage reservoir that it is capable of being. 

Cayuga Lake is the most difficult to deal with of all the lakes of 
this system, as it is the lowest of them all. But on the other 
hand, on account of these very features, it could be made the most 



State dam. Keuka Lake. Water low. 
This controls the water flow. 



Burnt over district. Lake suitable for storage. Level should be raised. 
From “Forestry and Irrigation.’’ 


valuable of all these lakes for storage purposes, as it constitutes 
the bottom receptacle of nearly all of them. 

This leads us to the question that has greatly troubled our 
ablest engineers, and I only dare to tread on this ground after 
them because of its transcendent importance. 







426 Taylor: U- F - l >- 

I have no doubt but because of this sag the engineers have felt 
the necessity upon them to step the canal now building down in 
the vicinity of Newark and up again as it approaches the Rome 
level. This makes necessary the absorption of a portion of the 
water of the Oswego water shed for the locking of the canal at 
this lower level. 

The level of the proposed Barge Canal, as it leaves Lake Erie, 
is 564 feet, and it locks down all the way from there to a point 
a little east of Rochester. Could the level of the canal from this- 
point be maintained to get over the Rome level, which is 391 feet 
and 6 inches, the problem of a lock down canal all the way from' 
Lake Erie to the Hudson could be solved. 

I do not presume for a moment that all of these questions have 
not been carefully considered by those in charge of the canal’ 
work. But we are now up against conditions that have never be¬ 
fore made possible the consideration of things in the large way 
that is absolutely forced upon us to-day. 

The West is calling for the cheapest kind of transportation for 
its grain and other bulk goods to the Atlantic Ocean. The 
breaking of bulk where it can possibly be avoided is recognized as- 
a very great disadvantage. A canal for navigation purposes- 
alone only fulfills a part of its possible mission, especially a canal 
that could be made a lock down canal with the total fall of 564 
feet to tide water. 

If a ship canal coupled with a water power canal were made 
between Lake Erie and the Hudson River, the value of the water 
power alone would be^ a very large factor in paying -for its 
enormous cost. It is to be borne in mind in considering^ such a 
great proposition, that when once done, as it ought to be done, it: 
will be a continuous source of large income. We are therefore 
justified in putting the .best thought we can conceive upon this im¬ 
portant subject and ask ourselves, Is it worth while? Every ton 
of water per minute that could be made to pass through water 
wheels in such a canal to the Hudson River would mean the gen¬ 
eration continuously of thirty horse power and the saving of 360- 
tons of coal per year. 

A large development of water power could be made in the vi¬ 
cinity of Lockport, Rochester, Waterloo, Seneca Falls, and from 
Little Falls to the Hudson River, an enormous development of 
water power, there being some three hundred feet fall between 


Dec. 1908.] Water Power for Electrical Purposes. 427 

these points. We might be justified in such a work for the ac¬ 
complishment of a great purpose. 

Chicago, years ago, found itself in the mud and they assembled 
as one man and raised those great blocks of buildings and streets,, 
and we have a new Chicago. These were necessities and were 
done because people had to do them. 

The question arises, Is the construction of a ship and power canal 
from Lake Erie to the Hudson River of sufficient importance to 
justify the employment of modern means to raise Ithaca and 
Watkins to a higher and healthier level, and some of the very 
small places that might be in the way of such a development. 
These things accomplished the darning of Cayuga Lake opposite 
Cayuga would make a large storage reservoir of Cayuga Lake 



A river on a rampage because it has no storage lakes. 
A fair sample of nearly all the rivers In our country. 


and enable the level of the canal to be such as to pass the Rome 
level. A clam across the foot of Cayuga Lake that should have a 
large spillway and empty the flood water of the watershed into 
Cayuga Lake would make a large power development possible at 
Cayuga and equalize the flow of the Oswego River, and thus' con¬ 
serve the flood water of this great and important watershed, and 
make available the same for the purposes of power and lockage of 
vessels. 

The present Barge Canal is constructed only as a navigation 
canal, without reference to water power in this electrical age even 
for the towage of its own boats, and which can be used for that 
purpose only seven Or eight months per year, while the power of a 




428 Taylor: U- F - I - 

ship and power canal could be used the whole year through with 
the production of values running into the hundreds of millions of 
dollars. It seems passing strange that so important a work should 
have been undertaken without the coordination of other interests 
■quite as important as those of navigation. All of these interests 
should work in harmony for the highest possible development of 
all of our resources as a people. 

From the Report to the Governor of the Advisory Board of 
■Consulting Engin ers from January 1st, 1907, to January 1st, 
1908, page 21, paragraph 4, we take as follows: 

“The Board did not feel justified in recommending a generating 
-or transmission system which would allow of possible expansion 
of power uses for electric haulage or for the sale of surplus power 
by the State, holding that this was a matter not connected with 
the appropriation for the construction of water ways.” 

“The details of power generation for and application to lock 
mechanism is being given particular study and a set of tentative 
■designs have been submitted to the State Engineers’ Department 
for consideration.” 

It will be said by many that all this is out of the question. 
■Galveston and Chicago are to-day greater cities than they could 
have been but for the great work that they have done. 

Ithaca can, by modern hydraulic methods, be raised to a proper 
position, and concrete docks and breakwaters constructed, before 
which not only the pleasure steamers of Cayuga Lake shall land, 
but also the commerce of the world. We should not damage 
Ithaca, but better it beyond its most hopeful thought of the 
future. We should not damage the water power users of the 
Oswego watershed, but bless them with reliability of power such 
as they have never before known, and not have damage suits from 
them but money instead, for benefits received. 

“Albany, Nov. 16.-—Fulton Power Company Has Title toBed of 
River, Court of Claims Holds in Big Barge Canal Action. State 
Loses First Phase of Suit for $3,428,028; May Multiply Canal’s 
Cost Enormously. No Appeal Possible Until Award Fixing 
Damages has been Reached.” 

“The State Court of Claims to-day decided against the State in 
a motion to dismiss the claim of the Fulton Light, Heat and 
Power Company, of Fulton, Oswego County, for $3,428,028 for 


I)cc. 1908.] JVater Power for Electrical Purposes. 429 

the permanent appropriation for barge-canal purposes of land in 
Fulton and of the developed and undeveloped water power in the 
Oswego River there, together with an alleged depreciation in 
value of the electric light plant of the company.” 

The claim, which involves a test case on behalf of power con¬ 
cerns at various points whose water power is to be taken over for 
canal purposes, was before-the court on the- issue of the State’s 
ownership of title to the bed of the river and the water rights 
which the companies are seeking to protect, and the claim has not 
been tried on the question of the amount of damages sustained by 
the concern. The decision of the Court of Claims undoubtedly 
later on will be carried to the Court of Appeals. 

In refusing to dismiss the claim, the court holds, in an opinion 
written by Judge Rodenbeck, in which the other judges concur, 
that the claimant is the owner of the lands which are to be taken 
for barge canal purposes, which include the power site of the 
company at Fulton. 

The court agrees with various contentions of law advanced for 
the claimant, but, under the opinion handed down, has reached no 
conclusion as to the extent of the riparian rights attaching to the 
land, which must be determined when the trial is resumed. 

Until the case is fully closed, and an award fixing the amount of 
damages is reached, the State cannot review this determination of 
the Court of Claims in the higher courts. 

The main points covered by the opinion are that a State patent 
bounded by a fresh water non-tidal stream carries title to the cen¬ 
ter of the stream; and that a private individual may acquire title 
by prescription in the bed of such a stream, even though the 
stream may be navigable. 

The far-reaching effect of this decision, if it is sustained, in in¬ 
creasing the cost of the barge canal or other improvements to 
navigation in this State, cannot be overestimated. 

There are a score of other sites like Fulton, at each of which 
there are a score or more of water power users who will file simi¬ 
lar claims in like big amounts. It is understood that these water 
power users are acting somewhat in concert in furthering the 
prosecution of the claim now on trial. 

Trial of the claim has brought out a notable array of attorneys 
in behalf of the power companies, headed by Prof. C. A. Collins, 


430 Taylor: 1 J- F * I -» 

former counsel to Governor Flower. The State was represented 
by Deputy Attorney-General George P. Decker.” 

We should make a State canal that should lock all the way 
■down from Lake Erie to the Hudson and that should not be sim¬ 
ply a navigation canal but a power canal as well, with its large 
power at several places already referred to along its course where 
the grains of the great West could be made into flour and numer¬ 
ous industries dependent upon bulk materials manufactured into 
goods of higher value, so that even the railroads would rejoice 
in elevating their tracks and running them alongside this great 
waterway as they see in prospect the millions of cars of high- 
class, well-paying freight that they shall be called upon to move 
from the manufacturers along its banks. Dockage in New York 
City would be relieved by docks wherever needed along such a 
canal. 

This is not a time for war, but for the coordination of all the 
forces of the State, and the United States, for the production of a 
highway to the sea that shall not only carry the commerce of the 
world, but by its power, convert untold millions of property from 
a lower to a higher value. 

The great State of New York must get out of a thimble and do 
things worthy of its name, the great “Empire State.” But, as a 
matter of fact, the State of New York need not do this great work 
alone. The great West, with Chicago as its spokesman, and even 
financiering, will help in this work as only such people know how 
to do. Maybe Chicago business men would take the raising of 
Ithaca as their own responsibility. 

Do these great things now, and when the coal mines of Penn¬ 
sylvania are exhausted, and even long before, our successors shall 
rise up and call us blessed. 

I do not belittle this great undertaking, but the large interests 
involved are so stupendous that it is necessary to do things wise 
■ enough and great enough to coordinate the whole. 

In closing this address, I cannot do better than quote from an 
address by Mr. McClintock, an eminent engineer, and one of the 
Canal Commissioners, before business men of Rochester when it 
seemed certain that a barge instead of a ship and power canal 
would be built, and also a letter recently received by me from Mr. 
Lyman E. Cooley, one of Chicago’s most eminent engineers, in 
.connection with the drainage canal. 


Dec. 1908.] Water Power for Electrical Purposes. 


43i 


PART OF ADDRESS OF MR. MYLINTOCK, CANAL COMMISSIONER. 

“We demand that the plan adopted shall be one that will give 
the greatest benefit to the largest number of people. We have 
studied the surveys made for a ship canal by the way of Lake 
■Ontario, and the various surveys for a barge canal; also the 
topographical survey of this portion of the State covering the 
-canal which is now complete; also the history of the present canal, 
-and we assert the force of the following-propositions: 

“1. A barge canal by the way of Lake Ontario would be 
more for the benefit of Canadian interests than New York. 

“2. A barge canal through Rochester and Syracuse would be 
of no appreciable benefit to any interests in the State except a 
comparatively small contingent in Buffalo and New York. 

“3. It is more than probable that as soon as this State is com¬ 
mitted to the construction of a barge canal for 1000 ton barges, 
work will be begun upon a ship canal from Georgian Bay to 
Montreal which will give passageway for 8000 ton ships, and such 
a canal will be finished by the time of the completion of the barge 
canal. 

“4. A ship canal 30 feet deep and 300 feet wide, taking a 
-supply of water from Lake Erie and forming a great navigable 
river for 350 miles from that lake to the Hudson River is the 
•only scheme that is worthy of consideration by this great State 
at this stage of its industrial development. Such a canal would 
"be beyond the competition of railroads in the movement of 
freight. The commerce on it could not be controlled by any com¬ 
bination of ocean steamships or inland railroads, and it can be 
built so as to make possible the creation of permanent water 
power worth $500,000,000, distributed at various points clear 
across the State. 

“Such a canal could be built without increasing the burden of 
taxation, and be made to pay its cost directly. 

“We insist that before the people of this State are asked to 
wote upon the proposition to spend $75,000,000 to $100,000,000 
on a barge canal, detailed studies and reports be made upon this 
project.” 

21 Quincy St., Chicago,,Nov. 2, 1908. 
Mr. Edward R. Taylor, Penn Yan, N. Y. 

Dear Sir :—I have yours of the 27th ult. inclosing copy of 


432 


[J. F. I., 


Taylor: 

your paper read before the Electrochemical Society, which I have 
read with pleasure. You are thinking along the right lines. 

Mr. Geo. W. Rafter did much work in your State on this sub¬ 
ject and made some valuable reports. 

The project of carrying a supply of water from Lake Erie to- 
the Hudson River was an original idea of Governeur Morris, and 
has been discussed with every change in the canal. The report of 
the International Commission, of which I was a member, Wash¬ 
ington, 1897, submitted profiles of both the Mohawk and Cham¬ 
plain routes, and suggested the cutting out of the Rome summit 
to the level of Oneida Lake, and the Fort Edward summit to the 
level of Lake Champlain. These propositions were estimated by 
the Board of Engineers on Deep Waterways. See their report, 
1901. 

The West is in favor of the betterment of all water routes to- 
the sea, but the majority of people look upon the barge canal as an 
improved toll gate for the special benefit of New York State. 
The West would not assist in asking the General Government for 
money for the barge canal, but would be very glad to help in se¬ 
curing the additional money which would be required above the 
cost of the barge canal to make a first-class ship canal. We want 
thirty feet and not twenty feet when we get ready to break 
through to the Atlantic. 

We shall have a ship route to the Atlantic sooner or later, and 
so far as the West is concerned, it will go along the line of least 
resistance, for an outlet to the sea, in our minds, takes supremacy 
over any question of route. 

Yours truly, Lyman E. Cooley. 

Referring to Mr. Cooley and the drainage canal: The State 
of Illinois is about to extend this canal sixty miles, to be a part of 
“From the Lakes to the Gulf Ship Canal,” and Chicago’s inter¬ 
est is now centered therein, and it remains to be seen if our slow 
east has lost its grand opportunity. 

It is interesting to note that the stone excavated in making the 
drainage canal has been found to be worth millions of dollars 
for concrete and other work. So it might be with a New York 
ship and power canal in the interest of good roads. Lots of stone, 
cheap power for crushing and cheap transportation for their use. 
May we do this great thing. 













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